Using Document Tabs in Google Docs

Document tabs are a feature designed to help you organise longer documents, centralise information, and make collaboration easier. 

You can use tabs to draft and build content in a way that makes it easy for you to quickly find what you’re looking for. They also make it simple for readers to navigate through your documents and focus on sections that are important to them. Tabs help you to organise your information into a single file instead of having to link to multiple documents.

Tabs in Docs can be particularly useful when you need to break down long, structured documents into smaller sections. For example: 

• A marketing manager can create a campaign brief with focused tabs for budget, goals, and creative ideas. 
• A salesperson can create pitch templates with dedicated tabs for each industry or sales territory. 
• An IT service representative can create tabs for each solution to address common customer service issues. 

Within each tab, you can also create subtabs to further break down your document structure. This might be for a document outlining team structure, which might include subtabs detailing the duties and responsibilities for each team role. Tabs are similar to sheet tabs in Google Sheets.

How to Create Document Tabs

1. In Google Docs, start with a new or existing document.
2. At the top left of the screen, click the Show tabs and outlines icon.
3. At the top of the Document tabs pane, use the plus + symbol to add a new tab.

In the example below, I clicked the Add tab button to add Tab 4. I’ll need to rename it next.

Once I’ve added some tabs, I can go ahead and start creating my document text.

Working with Tabs

After adding some tabs, you can rename, duplicate, or delete them as needed. You can also move the tabs up and down or move them into other sections where they’ll become subtabs.

To perform these tasks, right click on the tab, then select an option from the drop down list. For example, in the screenshot below, I renamed the tab as Project, and I added a lightbulb emoji.

I wanted to move the Financials section up, so although in could use the drop down list, in this case, I just dragged the tab into position. Simple!

Conclusion

Adding Tabs to your documents can be a great way to organise your content without the need to create and manage multiple files. It worth experimenting with document tabs to see if they can help you with your content.